Mister Communication
by Nanenna
Summary: The barrier's broken, monsterkind is finally free, and Dr. Gaster is reunited with his two wonderful sons. You'd think everything would be smooth sailing from here on out, but there's one little, teeny,tiny complication the skeleton family has to deal with: the consequences of one missing night after the worst week of Sans's entire life. Mpreg, M/M pairing
1. It Begins

Since doesn't have a tagging system like AO3 I'm just going to add them all here at the beginning of the fic. And yes, this is mirrored on AO3 if you prefer to read over there. No major formatting differences (since Comic Sans shows up as cursive on phones and Papyrus doesn't show up on mine at all!)

Warnings for: Alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancy, male pregnancy (how do monsters even reproduce?), M/M pairing, references to depression.

* * *

Sans stumbled up the few steps to the basement's door and out into the snow, a cloud of noxious smoke followed him but quickly dissipated into the crisp evening air. He coughed into a fist a few times before collapsing against the house's back wall. He glanced back at the basement and the trickle of smoke still leaking out the darkened doorway, his grin turned rictus.

"heh, well there that goes. what a week, am i right?" He pushed off the wall and started slowly walking out from behind the house. "first the whole melting mess happened, then the experimental soul vessel went missing, and now i broke dad's only hope of ever coming back." Sans stopped to laugh hollowly, "i should look on the bright side, at least the damn machine spat out some results before giving up the magic smoke." He laughed again before starting his slow trudge around the final corner of the house and towards the front door. "some results, at least now we know why these infrequent cases of widespread intense deja vu keep happening. and happening. and happening. over and over and over and over… until it doesn't. don't know if i even should tell alphys about that lovely little data point, girl's got enough on her plate with everything else." Sans stopped and considered the steps to the front door, now only a couple yards away. "angel above, i need a drink."

Sans turned around and started trudging in the opposite direction. He shoved his grimy hands in his pants pockets before continuing to talk to seemingly no one. "just one drink, maybe get a burg, crack some jokes, hang out with scarlet and fischer and the dogs… yeah, a burg sounds pretty good right now. bet dizzy's already there, heh. yeah, just hang out a bit, unwind, come home for a good night's sleep, come back at this mess tomorrow with fresh eye sockets. maybe it won't look so bad in the morning."

By this point Sans had arrived at the door to Grillby's and pulled on it only to find it wouldn't budge. He stared down at his phalanges on the handle, trying to figure out how his hands or maybe the door could have possibly stopped working correctly. His eyes trailed up from the handle to find a sign taped to the door, he had to lean in close to read the hand written note.

[Closed temporarily due to family matters.]

Sans let out a sob as his head fell against the door with a hollow thunk.

* * *

Dr. Gaster sunk heavily into the pillows piled up behind him in the hospital bed, an IV dripping green magic infused fluid into one of his joints. Despite the dark shadows under his orbits he had a gentle smile on his face as he watched Asgore prattle on.

"… and when we woke up the barrier was broken," Asgore said happily. "Frisk was still asleep, that was when we all suddenly knew their name, by the way."

"AH, YES, THE SAME THING SEEMED TO HAPPEN TO ME," Gaster interrupted. "WHEN I FIRST WOKE UP THAT WAS ALL I KNEW, REALLY, THAT A HUMAN NAMED FRISK HAD BROKEN THE BARRIER."

Asgore stroked his beard, "It is strange, is it not? And they still will not tell us how they managed to break the barrier. But all that really matters is the barrier is gone, monsterkind is free, and there is no war waiting for us up there."

"THAT IS SUCH WONDERFUL NEWS," Gaster agreed.

"What a week it has been," Asgore chuckled before gently patting one of Gaster's hands. "I am glad to see you doing so much better."

"I STILL FEEL WEAK AS A NEWBORN MOLDSMAL," Gaster replied wryly.

"At least you have gathered the strength to speak with the rest of us."

Before Gaster could reply they heard the pounding of feet coming down the hall, growing louder as it approached. The door burst open and Papyrus paused a moment in the doorway before a brilliant smile lit up his face. "DAD!" He threw himself at Dr. Gaster, who happily returned the hug.

"HELLO PAPYRUS, IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN."

"dad!"

Gaster looked up to see Sans standing in the doorway now, Gaster held an arm out to him and Papyrus shifted to give his brother more room. Sans eagerly climbed up onto the bed and joined the hug.

"HELLO SANS, I MISSED YOU." Gaster pressed his teeth against each of his sons' foreheads. "I MISSED YOU BOTH SO MUCH."

"we missed you too, dad," Sans said from where his face was pressed into Gaster's clavicle.

Asgore had gotten up and moved to the door, he would have left but the doorway itself was blocked by a small crowd of the skeleton family's friends all leaning in to watch the touching reunion happen.

After a while the skeletons seemed to come to an agreement that their positions were actually pretty uncomfortable and they shifted so the three of them could talk comfortably. Papyrus pulled his boots off and lined them up neatly next to the bed before laying on his side next to his father. Sans didn't bother with such niceties like removing his footwear before simply curling up into Gaster's other side. Gaster put an arm around each of his boys so they could rest their heads on his shoulders while they talked and caught up.

"what happened?" Sans was the first to speak once they were all settled in. "how'd you get back?"

"I'M STILL NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHERE YOU DISAPPEARED OFF TO TO BEGIN WITH. SANS SAID YOU WENT ON A VACATION? FOR THE LAST TWO DECADES?"

Gaster looked at Sans, who merely grinned back. "NOT A VACATION," Gaster said with a sigh while Sans laughed quietly to himself, "A LAB ACCIDENT. WE WERE TRYING TO USE DIMENSIONAL TECHNOLOGY TO GET AROUND THE BARRIER RATHER THAN BREAK THROUGH IT. SUFFICE TO SAY THE EXPERIMENT DID NOT GO AS PLANNED."

"AH, SO YOU WERE PULLED OUTSIDE OF SPACE-TIME THEN?"

"got it in one," Sans said with a wink.

"INDEED," Gaster agreed.

"NOT THE WORST VACATION I SUPPOSE, EVEN IF IT WAS AN UNPLANNED ONE. SPEAKING OF UNPLANNED…"

"so what was it like?" Sans asked before Papyrus could continue. "being outside the universe must have been pretty interesting."

"I'M SURE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IF I COULD ACTUALLY SEE ANYTHING. IT WAS… DARK. VERY DARK. OR PERHAPS IT'S MORE ACCURATE TO SAY THERE WAS NO MATTER OR ENERGY FOR SENSORY INPUT."

"that would explain the photon readings dipping down into the negatives if the sensors weren't calibrated correctly, not having a true void to test before hand."

"SO YOU SPENT THE LAST TWO DECADES IN A VOID WITH NOTHING TO DO AND NOTHING TO SEE AND NO ONE TO TALK TO?"

"TWO DECADES FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE," Gaster said as gently as possible before continuing on in what his sons called his 'scholarly voice,' "FROM MY PERSPECTIVE ALMOST NO TIME PASSED AT ALL, OR PERHAPS EVEN LONGER, IT FEELS LIKE BOTH AT ONCE. AS YOU SAID: I WASN'T JUST OUTSIDE THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE, I WAS OUTSIDE OF TIME TOO."

"matter's lazy big brother, can only bother going in one direction," Sans quipped with a wink directed at his younger brother. "so how'd you get back? i'd been trying for years with nothing to show for it."

"I BELIEVE FRISK BREAKING THE BARRIER HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT," Gaster replied. "OR AT LEAST IT IS HIGHLY LIKELY TO BE CORRELATED, CONSIDERING THE TIMING."

"Oh! I can tell them more about that part!" Everyone's heads turned to find Dr. Alphys had her hand up like she was answering a question in class, in her other hand was a small notepad with a pen hastily shoved into the spiral keeping the paper together. "I was doing a walk through in the Core to make sure everything was ready to go into low power mode since we now have enough emergency housing on the surface for most of monsterkind. I was the one who found Dr. Gaster, actually. After I rushed him here, to the hospital, I went back and checked the cameras to see if I could figure out who he was and how he got down there. I can show you the footage later, if you want. Anyway, on a hunch I went right to around the time the barrier broke and sure enough there was that bright flash of light that blinded all the cameras for about half an hour-"

"HALF AN HOUR?" Papyrus asked in astonishment. "I THOUGHT THE FLASH OF LIGHT LASTED FOR ONLY A MOMENT, TWO FULL SECONDS AT MOST."

"See, that's what it felt like to us, but we have all kinds of data that contradicts what every single person in the entire Underground agrees happened," Dr. Alphys said excitedly, her free hand started waving erratically as she continued to talk. "The magic readings were all over the place and even spiked a few times while everything trained on the barrier stayed steady and unchanging as ever until the barrier itself broke, about two minutes before the camera white out ended. And it was every single camera I had over the entire Underground too, not just the ones near the barrier. But uh… that doesn't… I mean it's not… that's not w-what we were just talking about, heh." Dr. Alphys blushed as she grinned sheepishly.

"NO, BUT IT WAS STILL FASCINATING." Gaster's eyelights were trained on Dr. Alphys, making her squirm. "I'D VERY MUCH LIKE TO GO OVER ALL YOUR DATA WITH YOU ONCE I'VE HAD A CHANCE TO RECOVER, IF YOU'D BE WILLING."

"O-oh, um… that's uh… that would be… nice? I guess?" Dr. Alphys's sheepish grin turned into a nervous one before she hid her blushing face in her hands, effectively smacking herself with her notepad. "Oh g-gosh! The royal scientist wants t-to look at MY data!"

"it's cool alphys, you're the royal scientist too," Sans offered.

"Well, former royal scientist," Toriel reminded them. Dr. Alphys looked down and away.

"And since we are dissolving the monarchy there will not be any more royal scientists, so former royal scientist is a very exclusive club." Asgore winked at Dr. Alphys, but rather than console her it just made her all the more nervous.

"A-a-anyway!" Dr. Alphys said decisively, "Dr. Gaster wasn't in the Core anywhere when the white out started, b-but he was when it ended. S-so uh… yeah. Probably some correlation there somewhere."

"THANK YOU ALPHYS, THAT WAS VERY INFORMATIVE." Papyrus gave Dr. Alphys his most supportive grin.

"Yeah! Look at you being all passionate! It makes me just wanna!" The blue, muscular woman Gaster had been introduced to but whose name he could not for the life of him recall picked Dr. Alphys up in a tight hug, though Dr. Alphys seemed to be enjoying having her insides squeezed.

"IF IT HELPS WITH ALL THIS SCIENCE TALK BLOOKY, MY DARLING COUSIN, MANAGED TO IGNORE THE FLASH OF LIGHT THAT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE BARRIER BREAKING." The robot looked utterly pleased with himself.

"I WOULD BE VERY INTERESTED IN TALKING WITH THEM ABOUT IT AFTER I'VE HAD A CHANCE TO LOOK AT DR. ALPHYS'S DATA, IF YOUR COUSIN DOESN'T MIND."

"I'LL ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW," he said happily.

"okay," Sans started, "so whatever broke the barrier possibly also brought you back, but that doesn't explain why it took a week for us to get a call from the hospital that you're here."

"SANS IS RIGHT," Papyrus declared huffily. "AS YOUR NEXT OF KIN AND VERY HANDSOME SON, AND ALSO SANS, WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN INFORMED IMMEDIATELY."

"I WASN'T CONSCIOUS FOR THAT PART, WHICH ACTUALLY SHOULD EXPLAIN ENOUGH ON ITS OWN BUT PERHAPS IT WOULD BE BEST TO HEAR THE STORY FROM SOMEONE ELSE." Gaster turned his gaze back to Dr. Alphys.

"Oh! Th-that's me, isn't it?" Dr. Alphys was gently set back on her feet by her girlfriend, she took a deep breath before continuing. "O-okay, so I didn't even do the walk through until uh… until a couple days after the barrier. W-when I found Dr. Gaster his condition was… that is… he was in pretty bad shape. O-o-of course I rushed him right here to the hospital! According to the nurses he… oh! And the doctors too of course, but according to them he was in and out of consciousness until just this morning. And well… we had no way of knowing who he was until he could tell us."

"In retrospect his identity seems quite obvious," Asgore said with a gentle chuckle, it then turned into a sad sigh. "If I had come to visit before you woke I would have definitely recognized you, and your sons could have been contacted sooner."

"I'LL HEAR NONE OF THAT," Gaster said sternly. "YOU WERE VERY BUSY MOVING ALL OF MONSTERKIND TO THE SURFACE AFTER BEING TRAPPED DOWN HERE FOR CENTURIES, AND CONSIDERING I WAS PRESUMED DEAD AFTER THE ACCIDENT YOU HAD NO REASON TO EXPECT SOME MYSTERIOUS MONSTER FOUND IN THE CORE TO BE SOMEONE YOU KNEW. I'M JUST GRATEFUL THIS WHOLE ORDEAL IS FINALLY OVER WITH."

"AND I'M JUST GLAD TO FINALLY HAVE YOU BACK!" Papyrus threw an arm over Sans so he could pull the three of them into another hug. Gaster happily returned the hug to a background chorus of "Awwww…" when his brow furrowed and he pulled back, slipping his arm out from behind Papyrus.

"WHAT IS IT, DAD?" Papyrus asked in confusion as he leaned back to give Gaster more room.

"THAT SEEMS TO BE THE QUESTION. SANS? WHAT IS THIS?" Gaster poked at Sans's middle, rather than meeting empty space like one would expect of a skeleton, Gaster's finger met soft, squishy resistance. "IS THAT… A BELLY?" Gaster lifted Sans's grungy shirt to reveal ghostly pale pseudo flesh, much to Sans's sputtering, blushing protest. "SANS?" Gaster looked back at his son's blushing face, his own wearing an expression of confusion.

"oh that uh… congrats, you're gonna be a grandpa. can we not talk about it with an audience listening in?" Sans jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at where all their friends were standing in the doorway with various expressions of shock on their faces.

Undyne looked particularly nonplussed when she simply said: "HE'S WHAT?!"


	2. An Explanation

Sans groaned as consciousness slowly returned to him. He winced and tried to roll over, which he immediately regretted. Every. Single. Joint. Ached. He felt like someone had taken a hammer to the inside of his skull, and the cherry on top was the wave of nausea that rolled through him when he tried to move. He groaned again.

"SANS? ARE YOU FINALLY AWAKE?"

Sans winced, more out of surprise than anything, though his brother's usual volume wasn't entirely pleasant either. Rather than muster the energy to form words Sans just groaned again. Something damp and cool was pressed against his forehead, if he had to guess Sans would say it was a wet washcloth. He wasn't about to open his eye sockets to find out.

"HOW ARE YOU FEELING?" Bony fingers caressed the side of Sans's face, the feeling wasn't unpleasant but it wasn't really pleasant either. Sans decided not to complain, too much effort. "SANS? CAN YOU ANSWER THE QUESTION?"

Question? Oh, that's right, Papyrus had asked a question. He scrunched up his eyes as he tried to slog his way through the swamp that seemed to be his mind at the moment. Right, how was he feeling? Pretty awful. He chose to respond to the question with a grunt, it was the most eloquent answer Sans could think of.

"I SUPPOSE THAT'S THE BEST RESPONSE I COULD HOPE FOR." Sans couldn't help but grin at that, his brother was so cool and observant and smart. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT YOUR SHIFTS TODAY, I ALREADY CALLED IN SICK FOR YOU. UNDYNE SAYS TO GET PLENTY OF REST, DRINK LOTS OF FLUIDS, AND KICK THIS FLU'S BUTT. WELL… SHE DIDN'T SAY THE WORD 'BUTT', BUT I'M NOT GOING TO REPEAT THE WORDS SHE ACTUALLY USED."

Sans laughed at that, then immediately regretted it and went back to groaning. He didn't even have any lungs or a throat or a diaphragm, so why would laughing hurt so much?

"AND EVEN THOUGH IN SUCH A SITUATION I WOULD NORMALLY OFFER TO TAKE YOUR PLACE," Papyrus continued, "YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT EITHER BECAUSE I TOLD UNDYNE I HAD TO STAY HOME AND NURSE YOU BACK TO HEALTH. NOW, I HAVE SOME MEDICINE TO HELP WITH THE PAIN WHEN YOU'RE READY TO ATTEMPT DRINKING IT AND SOME OATMEAL FOR WHEN YOU'RE READY TO TRY EATING AFTER THAT."

Sans turned his head towards his brother, and wasn't that just a pleasant experience, before attempting to speak. His magic felt raw and stretched thin, like he had just gotten out of one of Papyrus's intense sparring matches. Or just had one hell of a weekend. Still, he gathered as much magic as he could and managed to croak out, "thanks, bro."

"YOU'RE QUITE WELCOME. NOW, IF I LIFT YOUR HEAD DO YOU THINK YOU COULD ATTEMPT TO DRINK THE MEDICINE?"

Sans groaned again, but nodded anyway.

* * *

Papyrus had just ushered all of their friends out into the hall and gently closed the door behind them. He turned to face his father and brother again, putting his hands on his hips and huffing before he walked over to the huddled ball Sans was currently curled up in. Papyrus pulled his disgusting slippers off and neatly placed them on the floor before going to the other side of the hospital bed and climbing on. Gaster put his arm around Papyrus's shoulder so he could rest his head on Gaster's clavicle while they talked. Not that they were talking yet, Sans was still curled up in a ball of shame. Papyrus had seen Gaster patiently wait for Sans to start talking many times growing up, so he knew their father was simply using a tried and true tactic when he didn't push for Sans to start.

After several long, silent minutes Papyrus finally let out a sigh of frustration and impatiently began for Sans. "YES, SANS IS EXPECTING."

"WELL THAT'S EXCITING NEWS!" Gaster gushed happily. "AND I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU DIDN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT QUITE YET WITH EVERYTHING ELSE GOING ON RIGHT NOW. BUT… WHERE'S YOUR PARTNER? I'D THINK YOU'D WANT TO INTRODUCE THEM EVEN IF YOU WEREN'T READY TO SHARE THE NEWS YET."

"dongawdwun," Sans mumbled from his shame ball.

"I DIDN'T QUITE CATCH THAT," Gaster said gently as he pet Sans's head.

"i said i don't got one."

The hand petting Sans's head went to Gaster's mouth, which had formed a little O of shock. "OH DEAR, DID SOMETHING HAPPEN? DID THEY FALL DOWN OR…" Gaster's voice turned very gentle, "OR LEAVE YOU?"

Sans groaned as he pressed his face into the bed. Papyrus sighed again, he had a feeling he'd be doing a lot of that during this conversation. He knew it was best to let Sans talk in his own time, but there was only so many visiting hours left before they got kicked out of the hospital, and with how secretive Sans had become recently…

"SANS TOLD ME HE DOESN'T KNOW WHO THE FATHER IS."

Gaster stared blankly at Papyrus, he blinked, then blinked again. He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. Finally he managed to draw in a breath and find the words he needed. "THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE."

"I KNOW," Papyrus agreed blandly.

Sans groaned into the mattress again.

"THAT REALLY DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. I JUST… HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW? THAT ISN'T EVEN POSSIBLE, IS IT?" Gaster paused for a moment, but barreled right along in his train of thought before either of his sons could answer. "A MONSTER HAS TO IN SOME WAY OR FORM WANT A CHILD BEFORE ONE CAN BE CONCEIVED. BOTH PARENTS DO. THERE HAS TO BE INTENT. I JUST… HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY NOT KNOW?" Gaster looked down at Sans in utter confusion.

Sans groaned again, then finally sat up to speak. "i was drunk, okay?!" he practically yelled. Then he noticed Gaster's hurt, confused expression and looked down at his hands as an embarrassed flush spread across his cheek bones. He continued more softly, "i was really, really drunk. lost a day, maybe more. i haven't touched the stuff since," he tacked on defensively. "especially not since i found out about the baby."

Gaster reached for Sans's shoulders and tugged, Sans allowed himself to be guided to lay against Gaster's clavicle with an arm around his shoulders just like Papyrus. Gaster laid a gentle kiss on top of Sans's head before he started rubbing his hand soothingly up and down Sans's arm.

"OH SANS, MY SWEET BABYBONES, WHAT HAPPENED WHILE I WAS GONE?"

Sans sniffled, "it's not your fault."

"HE HASN'T TOLD ME THE WHY OF IT YET EITHER," Papyrus added softly. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want to know. Fortunately he hadn't said that, and had no intention to.

"YOU CAN TELL US, SANS. WE WON'T TELL ANYONE ELSE IF YOU DON'T WANT US TO."

"i had a really bad week," Sans said without looking up at Gaster or Papyrus. There was an awkward silence as the other two absorbed and processed this information. "a really, really, really bad week. just… just awful."

"HOW BAD ARE WE TALKING?" Gaster finally asked.

"time was broken, i couldn't rescue you, escaped test subject, which wasn't even supposed to be able to escape, and then the amalgamates. don't know if asgore or alphys told you about those yet."

"ASGORE DID," Gaster murmured. "GOODNESS, THAT IS QUITE THE WEEK."

"technically time might still be broken, only time will tell."

Papyrus groaned, "SANS! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR HORRIBLE PUNS!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TIME IS BROKEN?"

"okay, so that machine that you were testing that caused this whole mess to begin with? i was trying to fix it and use it to rescue you, i already knew you weren't dust even if that's what everyone else assumed. so after i got it repaired i fired it up for a test run and it uh… broke. again."

"YOU WEREN'T HURT, WERE YOU?" Gaster asked in alarm. Papyrus reached over him to grab Sans's hand and squeeze it in comfort.

"no, i was fine. got a lab out behind the house so there was no chance of a repeat core accident and less power flow since it's not wired directly into the core. oh yeah, we got a house in snowdin now, nice place."

"WHY SNOWDIN?"

"RENT IS CHEAP!" Papyrus answered cheerfully.

"back to the matter at hand, i did get it to spit out some readings before it blew and they weren't good. i'll show you later but the long and short of it is that time is basically broken. timelines shifting around, jumping all over the place, stopping and restarting, and then it all just… ends."

"TIME ENDS?" Gaster asked hollowly.

"yeah, just stops." Sans made a chopping motion with one hand.

Gaster swallowed thickly as he thought over what he had just been told. "IS IT POSSIBLE THE MACHINE SIMPLY CEASED FUNCTIONING AT THAT TEMPORAL DATA COLLECTION POINT? YOU DID SAY THE MACHINE BROKE."

"yeah, that is possible." Something about Sans's tone told Papyrus that he didn't believe that at all. "but no matter what time is still a convoluted, shifting mess."

"YES, I CAN SEE HOW THAT WOULD BE A WORRY." Gaster seemed to be thinking over everything Sans had just told him.

Papyrus decided to bring them both back to the original subject, he wasn't going to let Sans dodge again now that he was finally talking. "AND YOU HAVEN'T TOLD ANYONE SINCE THEN? I CAN SEE HOW THAT WOULD DRIVE YOU TO SUCH IRRESPONSIBLE LEVELS OF DRINKING." He squeezed Sans's hand again as a show of support. Sans blushed at the reminder.

"YES," Gaster agreed, "DESPITE HOW TERRIBLE A WEEK IT WAS WE REALLY NEED TO HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW INCREDIBLY UNHEALTHY YOUR CHOSEN COPING MECHANISM WAS."

"i know, believe me, i know. even before i found out about the baby i didn't want to drink again, the thought made me sick to my stomach. even when i was hanging out at grillby's."

Papyrus made a disgusted noise, "THAT GREASE DEN. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU HANG OUT THERE SO MUCH."

"i like the company," Sans replied casually.

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at Sans, "AND BY COMPANY YOU WOULDN'T HAPPEN TO BE REFERRING TO A CERTAIN FLAMING BARMAN WHO YOU'VE BEEN NOT-SO-SECRETLY PINING AFTER PRACTICALLY SINCE WE MOVED TO SNOWDIN?"

"OH?" Gaster perked up, "SANS HAS A CRUSH ON SOMEONE? WAIT, DID YOU SAY BARMAN? SANS, DID HE HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU GETTING BLACKOUT DRUNK?"

"no, no, no, angel above no. grillby's not like that, i trust him. besides, the place was closed that night, a funeral for an aunt that fell down."

"OH, THAT'S… MY APOLOGIES." Gaster blushed sheepishly. "IT'S JUST THAT I'M COMING INTO THE SITUATION SO LATE AND HAVE SO MUCH CATCHING UP TO DO, I'M JUST TRYING TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING THAT'S GOING ON."

"IT'S OKAY DAD, YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE. SANS ONLY TOLD ME ANY OF THIS TWO DAYS AGO. AND HE HASN'T TOLD ANYONE ELSE ANYTHING AT ALL YET."

"TWO DAYS AGO?" Gaster looked down at Sans, scandalized. Then his expression morphed to skepticism. "COME TO THINK OF IT, HOW FAR ALONG ARE YOU? HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN?"

"i've known for almost a month…"

Papyrus snorted.

"… and i was trying to figure out how to tell anyone. i mean, was there even really a point when time could just roll back at any given moment and there was no way of knowing if we'd done this all a hundred times before or not?"

Gaster pulled Sans even closer and gently shushed him as he pet Sans's head. "THERE THERE, IT'S OKAY. I'M HERE NOW, AND EVEN IF WE'VE DONE ALL THIS BEFORE AND WILL DO IT AGAIN THAT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE WE'RE ALL HERE NOW, AND WE'LL ALWAYS BE HERE FOR YOU."

"THAT'S RIGHT," Papyrus gently squeezed the hand he was still holding, "THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR HIS SLIGHTLY LESS COOL OLDER BROTHER. AND NOW THAT WE HAVE DAD BACK I'M SURE TIME WILL BE FIXED IN NO TIME AT ALL. NYE HEH HEH."

Sans sniffled, "thanks guys, that means a lot."


	3. A Further Explanation

Sans flopped onto his sentry station, the one he had turned into an illegal hot dog stand. His hot dogs had been selling like hot cakes and this was the first break he'd had all day, he was utterly exhausted. The fact that the heat of Hotland was soaking pleasantly into his joints and making him drowsy wasn't helping matters, the heat usually didn't affect him this much. Sans sighed to himself, he'd been feeling weird all morning honestly. It was a little annoying, really, just feeling kind of off and drowsy and maybe a little irritable, it's not Harpy's fault if he ran out of relish and couldn't slip over to his Snowdin sentry station while she watched.

Sans dragged himself up off the station and leaned back in his chair. Okay, maybe there was a reason he was feeling vaguely weird? He could do a basic diagnostic of himself at least, and maybe if he knew why he was feeling off he could fix it or at least figure out how to cope with it. Alright, step one: start with the head and work your way down. A quick glance in both directions to make sure no one was watching, then he placed his left hand on his cheek bone. A quick pulse of magic rang through his head. No changes there, unfortunately.

Next was his sternum. Well, technically next was his soul, but that was inside his ribs so that's where he put his hand. Another quick pulse of magic. Huh, that's strange. His soul was being more active than it should for how much he'd exerted himself today. A symptom or the cause? If nothing else was going on he might need to take one of his legally-required breaks and do a more in depth diagnosis. He moved down to his pelvis, the next so called hot spot for magic to gather. Or at least that was what he attempted, his hand ran into a barrier.

Sans looked down in confusion, poking at the strange feeling pseudo flesh just above his pelvis. He didn't remember conjuring any flesh, and what would he need a stomach for anyway? Another quick glance around to make sure no one else was coming, then he hunched over and slowly lifted his shirt. Below it was pale, ghostly, opaque pseudo flesh. He poked it curiously, then shivered at the unfamiliar sensation that produced. Weird, but if he had been walking around with a stomach all morning no wonder he felt strange and his soul was so active. He tried dispelling it, but nothing changed. Well at least now he had a starting point. He put a hand to the conjured flesh and sent another small pulse of magic through it. He nearly fell off his seat. He sent another, stronger pulse. Same results.

No way. Not possible. He couldn't be… there wasn't anyone he felt… he hadn't… had he? Suddenly that missing night from a couple weeks ago seemed way more important.

* * *

Asgore had parked himself bodily in front of the door to the room Dr. Gaster and his sons were currently talking in. He had crossed his arms and was giving Undyne his sternest look.

"Aw, c'mon!" Undyne yelled while motioning towards the door with both her arms. "You can't tell me you're not curious too!"

"No matter how curious I am, that is no excuse to eavesdrop on what is clearly a private family moment," Asgore admonished.

"HAVE A LITTLE PATIENCE, DARLING," Mettaton said with a wink. Or maybe it was a blink, it was hard to tell when one eye was covered by his lovely hair. "WE'LL JUST AMBUSH THEM WHEN THEY COME OUT. THAT'S THE ONLY DOOR TO THE ROOM, AND THEY HAVE TO LEAVE THERE SOME TIME."

"I wouldn't count on it," Alphys mumbled, the first words she had spoken since they had heard Sans's news.

"Whaddya mean?" Undyne asked in confusion.

"O-oh you know, just that Sans has his uh… his ways. H-he probably knows a uh… oh… a… a shortcut." Alphys practically shouted the last word in triumph.

Undyne snorted, "From a hospital room he's probably never been in before?"

"L-like I said, he has his ways."

"YOU DON'T THINK HE'D CLIMB OUT THE WINDOW, DO YOU?" Mettaton asked in concern.

"I know his brother would totally JUMP out a window!" Undyne roared gleefully.

While the others started discussing whether or not Sans would jump out a window and if they should station someone outside the hospital just in case, Asgore's eyes drifted over to Toriel, who had tucked herself against the far wall a little away from the rest of them. She had a contemplative look on her face, like she was thinking something over. Knowing Tori she was planning out what her friend would need to prepare for a new arrival, or since she and Sans seemed to have known each other for a while perhaps she was thinking over their recent interactions and if he had hinted at his condition. The fact that Sans seemed unwilling to talk about the matter was concerning, though Asgore couldn't say he knew the other monster very well. Or at all. And what kind of monster did that make Asgore? He had considered himself a friend of Dr. Gaster, and yet somehow he had only ever met the man's sons on a few very rare occasions.

Before Asgore's thoughts could spiral any further, there was a click behind him as the door opened. He stepped back and away to be met with Papyrus's grinning face, Sans stood behind him and looked off to the side, shoulders hunched.

"OH, HELLO EVERYONE! YOU'RE ALL STILL HERE. FOR SOME REASON." Papyrus grinned at all his friends.

"Well yeah!" Undyne yelled excitedly, "We wouldn't leave without you."

"THAT'S SO SWEET OF Y- OW OW OW! DON'T NOOGIE THE SKELETON!" Papyrus squirmed as Undyne enthusiastically noogied him.

"SO TELL US ALREADY!" Mettaton cut in excitedly. "TELL US ALL THE DETAILS, INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW." He held a hand curled into a fist save for his pinkie and thumb, which were strangely pointed out, towards Papyrus's still bound head.

"OH. YES. AND I'D BE HAPPY TO TELL YOU EVERYTHING ONCE UNDYNE RELEASES ME."

"it seems like you got the situation under wraps, so i'll go ahead and roll on out of here." Sans had backed away until he was near a corner in the hallway.

"SANS, DON'T YOU WANT TO STAY AND TALK WITH ALL OUR FRIENDS?" Papyrus asked as he rubbed his newly freed neck.

"and let these guys ribbon me? nah."

"I'M SURE THEY WOULD NEVER… GIFT WRAPPING PUNS? REALLY? HOW IS THAT EVEN RELEVANT?"

"you can do the big unboxing."

"SANS!" Papyrus yelled, but Sans had already disappeared behind the corner.

Undyne ran after him, but quickly returned with her hands in the air. "I'll never understand how he does that!"

Alphys snickered.

"SO DARLING… TELL US EVERYTHING." Mettaton got uncomfortably close to Papyrus, his hand still in that strange configuration and practically touching the skeleton's jaw. Judging from the way he was sweating and blushing, the poor fellow was very uncomfortable.

"Now, now, let us give him some room." Asgore put his paws and then some distance between the two monsters. "Papyrus, if you would speak in your own time."

Papyrus cleared his throat nervously, then took a deep breath before beginning in earnest. "WE'RE NOT SURE WHERE DAD IS GOING TO STAY ONCE HE'S RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL, LIKELY AT THE SNOWED INN SINCE WE CAN'T THINK OF ANYWHERE ELSE. OR PERHAPS UP TO THE SURFACE WITH EVERYONE ELSE WHO CAN'T WAIT TO MOVE OUT. EITHER WAY, WE'D NORMALLY GIVE HIM THE COUCH BUT UNDYNE IS CURRENTLY LIVING ON IT."

"I can find somewhere else to stay if you need the couch," Undyne offered with one of her hearty grins.

"Y-you can stay with me, i-i-if you want." Alphys blushed deeply, but grinned up at Undyne.

"Hell yeah! You're the best, Alphys!" Undyne picked Alphys up in a fierce hug.

"THAT'S NOT EVEN REMOTELY WHAT WE WERE ASKING ABOUT," Mettaton said in his most unimpressed voice. "WHAT WE REALLY WANT TO KNOW ABOUT IS YOUR BROTHER AND HIS LITTLE ADDITION TO THE FAMILY."

"OH. RIGHT. THAT. WELL, THERE'S REALLY NOT MUCH TO TELL SO…" Papyrus trailed off as four pairs of eyelids lowered to half mast in four nearly identical unimpressed glares. Asgore swore the temperature in the hallway fell and a shiver ran up his spine despite his thick fur. Papyrus merely sighed, "WITH HOW RELUCTANT SANS IS TO TALK ABOUT IT, EVEN WITH HIS PERMISSION TO TELL EVERYONE, IT JUST FEELS… WRONG." He started wringing his hands nervously.

Toriel laid a gentle paw on one of Papyrus's arms. "That is very kind of you, Papyrus, and very understandable. But everyone here is a friend of Sans and we all only wish to help him through what appears to be a difficult time."

"Yeah! We're all only this antsy about the whole thing because we care about the little goober!" Undyne slung an arm over Papyrus's shoulders and jostled him incredibly gently for her.

"ALRIGHT, I SUPPOSE IT DOESN'T MATTER IF ANYONE ELSE FINDS OUT EITHER BECAUSE SANS DID SAY IT WAS ABOUT TIME TO TELL EVERYONE ANYWAY. SO TO START WITH: YES, SANS IS PREGNANT." There were several gasps from the monsters all crowded closely around Papyrus. "HE'S KNOWN FOR ABOUT A MONTH NOW-"

"A WHOLE MONTH?!" Undyne asked in disbelief. "THAT CRAZY LITTLE JERK! I'LL KICK HIS ASS!"

"PLEASE DON'T KICK MY BROTHER'S ASS, HIS HEALTH IS ALREADY DELICATE WITHOUT TAKING A BABY INTO ACCOUNT."

"Right, I know, I won't ACTUALLY kick his ass, but I'm so pissed right now. He's been pregnant for a MONTH and didn't even hint at it!" Undyne growled and angrily punched the air.

"I-it's okay Undyne, he didn't tell me either," Alphys said as she latched onto one of Undyne's arms.

"That's not the POINT! The point is that Sans was working AS A SENTRY! It's a dangerous job, he could have encountered a human!" Undyne paused in her angry ranting only to explode into even angrier, louder ranting. "OH MY GOD! HE DID ENCOUNTER A HUMAN!"

"Now, now," Asgore soothed, "Frisk is a very kind, gentle human. They would never hurt Sans or any other monster."

"Do you know just how lucky Sans is that that's how it went this time? Sentries are the first line of defense against and advanced warning of humans! How long was he going to WAIT before telling someone in the guard his condition?!"

"LIKELY FOR FAR LONGER THAN HE ACTUALLY DID, YOU WON'T BELIEVE HOW HE TOLD ME."

"Was it through a pun or perhaps one of his amusing knock knock jokes?" Toriel asked with a wide grin.

"WORSE," Papyrus replied with the most disgusted expression Asgore had ever seen the skeleton wear. "IT WAS JUST A COUPLE DAYS AGO," Papyrus paused as Undyne slapped her own face and groaned, "WE WERE DISCUSSING WHAT KIND OF HOUSE TO LOOK FOR ON THE SURFACE AND SANS SAID WE SHOULD GET ONE WITH FOUR BEDROOMS. I THOUGHT THAT WAS AN ALTOGETHER EXCESSIVE NUMBER OF BEDROOMS, WHY WOULD TWO MONSTERS NEED FOUR BEDROOMS? SO HE REPLIED: ONE FOR ME, ONE FOR HIM, ONE AS A GUEST ROOM FOR THE NEXT TIME UNDYNE BURNED HER HOUSE DOWN-"

Undyne guffawed, "Wouldn't be the first time!"

"… AND ONE FOR THE BABY," Papyrus concluded.

Alphys and Toriel both burst into giggles at the comment, Undyne was still laughing over her house burning down.

"OF COURSE I WAS UTTERLY CONFUSED AND ASKED 'WHAT BABY?' TO WHICH HE JUST LIFTED HIS SHIRT AND POINTED AT HIS MIDDLE. WHICH I DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE WAS THERE BEFORE THAT MOMENT."

Asgore put his paws over his mouth to muffle his own laughter, something about the long suffering way Papyrus was telling the story was simply hilarious and he couldn't help himself. Even Mettaton was having trouble keeping his laughter under control as he continued to hold his hand out towards Papyrus.

"SUFFICE TO SAY, THAT WAS NOT THE BEST WAY FOR SANS TO TELL ME I'M GOING TO BE AN UNCLE."


	4. Tea Time

Sans hunched his shoulders even further as he sunk into the bar stool, nursing a crab apple cider as he glanced around the bar. It was early, before the canine unit's shifts ended, so he was hoping to find the restaurant empty. Alas, Big Mouth had shown up for an early lunch, and Fischer was spending his day off chatting with them. They were both seated together at a booth though, if Sans kept his voice down he should still be able to talk with Grillby in relative privacy. He just… needed to figure out what to say.

Angel above, why was this so hard? What even could he say? He can't just call Grillby over and say 'hey, did we have sex a couple weeks ago? because i cannot remember shit but i know i had sex with SOMEBODY and i was kinda hoping it was with you.' Not that the conversation was going to be easy no matter what, but wouldn't that be an awful way to start it? He took a sip from his drink as he considered his options.

Grillby was behind the bar again, polishing a glass to keep his hands busy. "… can I get you anything?"

"i'm good, thanks." Sans nervously drank more of his cider before girding up his nerves and just jumping in. "so when this place was closed a couple weeks ago, what happened?" Okay, maybe it wasn't really jumping all the way in, but it was a start at least.

"… my aunt fell down, I went to the funeral."

Sans winced, well that suddenly turned into a touchy subject. "oh uh… i'm sorry to hear that." He really, really was.

"… the rest of the family was afraid my parent would fall down too, they were very close."

Sans nodded even if he was really uncomfortable talking about this, but at the same time he didn't want Grillby to ever stop talking. "that sounds pretty worrying." Sans took another gulp of his drink.

It seemed Grillby had had enough of the subject too, the pair lapsed into silence. Sans decided to try steering the conversation back on course. "so uh… while you were away did you do anything else? visit some of the competition, maybe?"

Grillby paused his polishing, then picked it back up. "… not any bars, nor any restaurants. Just stayed with the family… it was a very somber occasion."

"yeah, makes sense. sorry for your loss." Sans went back to his drink as a cover for his nerves, and fortunately Grillby was soon called away by Big Mouth and Fischer.

Well, there went his best option right out the window. Sans sighed to himself, god wasn't he a fool for hoping.

* * *

Toriel carried a tray with two steaming tea cups and two slices of fresh pie into the living room, where Sans was lounging on the couch. Since Toriel had a child in her care she had been among the monsters who had their citizenship and housing paperwork rushed. Due to Sans's condition his family was likely in the same boat, if their lovely new home was anything to go by. It had been a busy few weeks, very busy, and their near future looked to be just as busy, so Toriel was glad to finally spend some time with her friend without any other distractions. Even Frisk was off having a playdate with M.K. and their parents.

She set the tray down on a coffee table, one of several new pieces of furniture she had purchased along with the couch, and settled next to Sans. He reached for the cup near him and took a sip, "thanks, toriel."

"You are quite welcome my friend." She took a sip of her own tea, warm and mellow, a good match for the slightly spicy sweetness of her dessert. "Do try the pie, I think this one came out especially well."

"i'm sure it's great, but it can't hurt to verify." Sans leaned forward and picked up the slice.

"Yes, I hear that is referred to as the scientific process."

"ya got me, you can take the scientist out of the lab but you can't take the scientist out of the comedian."

Toriel giggled, then picked up her own slice of pie as Sans took his first bite. "Well, how is it?"

"it's good, like a slice of home."

"Thank you, my friend." A comfortable silence fell over the pair as they worked through their pie and tea together. Well, Toriel wasn't going to dance around the elephant in the room any longer, it was time to broach the subject. Gently. Very gently. "So how are you feeling?"

"uh, fine, i guess. i mean… i've been kind of taking it easy. dad and papyrus are doing most of the work when it comes to moving, even if we both think dad shouldn't be pushing himself so hard. the doctors gave him a clean bill of health but i really don't think being stuck in a timeless void is something you can just bounce back from right away."

"No, I would guess not. And you are not helping with the move at all?"

"i tried, but they both insisted that i take things easy. and you know me, never one to turn down a chance to be lazy." Sans winked, though Toriel thought his smile looked a little strained.

"That is quite silly, it is not as if there is much to move. Merely our entire lives and culture and way of life."

"my thoughts exactly, it's all immaterial." He waved a hand dismissively over his head before returning to his tea.

Toriel should have known prodding Sans that gently would only lead to his brother and father, she must prod harder. "And how is your child?"

"healthy. went to see the kind of doc that specializes in babies, a bit difficult to get set up with them in the middle of moving practice but i managed to get an exam and the kiddo's doing find." Sans shrugged, seemingly unsure what else to say.

"That is wonderful news!" Toriel grinned at him, then her face softened into a gentle smile. "May I?" She held a hand out towards Sans's middle.

"huh? oh, uh… sure, i guess." Sans straightened his spine and lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal a pudgy middle. Toriel gently laid a paw against it, then sent a pulse of magic through it. Sans shuddered, "always feels weird when anyone else does that."

Toriel's smile widened, "They are very responsive."

"yeah well, us less physical monsters are like that." Sans shrugged again.

Toriel gave Sans's middle one last pat, then leaned back and allowed him to pull his shirt back down. "So you really do not know who the father is?" There, all the cards were on the table. Sans didn't even flinch, like he was just waiting for her to ask that very question. "It has been a long time since I have known anyone dealing with this situation."

Sans did flinch at that, in surprise if his shocked expression was anything to go by. "there's been others?"

"Of course, you did not think your situation was wholly unique, did you?"

"i guess… it's just… i mean… it's pretty unheard of?"

Toriel picked up her tea and took another sip before beginning in earnest. "Long ago, shortly after the barrier went up and we were all trapped, when the last remnants of monsterkind were huddled together in the dark, in the farthest corner of that cavern, shivering with fear that humans would change their minds and come to finish the job, still mourning over those who fell during the war… back then hope was very fragile. Too many fell down after the barrier went up, but those left behind had to find a way to move forward. At first all we could do was barely survive, we had to scrounge and scrape just to fine enough to eat. There was a fungus that grew in the dark and we harvested it to make food and drink, strong drink. Strong enough that some could use it to drown their sorrows and forget their hopelessness for a while." Toriel sighed and looked into the distance, lost in memories of a time past. Eventually she looked back down at Sans and concluded, "There were quite a few unexpected babies with unknown fathers."

"what happened to them?"

"You know how there must be love and affection between the parents before a child can be conceived? For most of the mothers it was simply a matter of finding out which monsters they had such feelings for. A few were unsure, confused and stressed by their own situation and the Underground's as a whole, but when the children were born it was quite obvious who the fathers were."

"so there wasn't anyone who didn't figure it out?"

"There was one…" Toriel hesitated, that monster had been particularly stubborn, a trait she was sure Sans had in spades. She did not want her friend to think his situation was at all similar if she could help it. "But when I talked with those close to the mother I found out it may have been a scandal, their family suspected they had feelings for a married monster. I will not judge actions taken while not in full control of their faculties, but I cannot in good conscience agree with lying to a child about her origins either." Toriel's face, which had become a scowl as she told the story, softened, "I do not believe you have found yourself in a similar situation. After all, have you not told me a great deal about a 'hot bartender' when we chatted through the door?" Toriel didn't remember Sans mentioning the bartender already having a partner, she sent out a silent prayer that her friend was actually not in the same situation.

Sans shook his head, "i already talked to him and we didn't… he never… it can't be him." Sans looked down and away. "it just can't," he added softly.

Toriel clicked her tongue, but if Sans was so sure…

"Here, let me refill your tea." She leaned forward and picked up Sans's nearly empty cup as well as her own.

Sans looked utterly relieved, "thanks, toriel."


	5. Eat and Run

Sans sat at his sentry station in the snow, a thick hoodie he had found in the back of his closet wrapped around him. He shouldn't need the hoodie, skeletons didn't feel the cold, at least not the same way fleshier monsters did. But he was just… more comfortable covered up for some reason. It wasn't hard to guess why though, he surreptitiously put a hand to his new middle, the pseudo flesh there soft and squishy. Sans sighed, what was he going to do? There was already so much going on, and if the machine's readings were anything to go by it was only going to get worse…

Sans groaned and let his head thunk against the sentry station's surface, there was no point in worrying about a future that could never come. The important thing right now was figuring out just how this had happened. And who with. Sans lifted his head, supporting it on one hand as the other drummed against the sentry station. Grillby's had been closed, so he had gone to New Home. It'd been a while since he'd been there, not since they moved out to Snowdin actually. The first bar he remembered clearly, of course, he hadn't even really gotten all that drunk there. That wasn't important though. How the night started was simple enough, it was how the night ended that really mattered.

He had finally been heading home… maybe? That seemed like it, he vaguely remembered leaving the tepid temperatures of New Home behind for the pleasant heat of Hotland, perhaps he chose to just walk home rather than shortcut? It would be the safer choice. He thinks he bumbled into a party? Or a group of people? He's pretty sure he recognized someone. Someone warm. Or was it the warmth of Hotland? Sans's brows furrowed as he attempted to sort through his hazy memories.

Someone he knew who was warmer than Hotland, only he wasn't surrounded by the warmth of Hotland anymore… Sans thought. They were someplace chilly? That had to be Snowdin, right? Had he brought someone home… it couldn't be. Papyrus would definitely have said something, right? Then again, Sans wasn't entirely sure how he had even gotten home. He must have somehow, right? Maybe he should ask Papyrus if someone brought him home, but would it be weird to ask about that night now, two weeks later? Wouldn't that just raise more questions he wasn't sure he was ready to answer?

Sans groaned and leaned forward in frustration, causing his new belly to press against the edge of the table. A reminder that Sans didn't have just himself to worry about anymore, and a time limit too. Even if that time limit was meaningless. Like it or not he was going to have to ask Papyrus some uncomfortable questions.

* * *

Grillby carefully tied his apron back on before stepping out of the kitchen and into the restaurant proper. He had just finished his lunch break, conveniently scheduled during the lull between the lunch and dinner rushes, and he quickly scanned the restaurant to make sure everything was as it should be. There was his employee, bussing a recently abandoned table, and there only seemed to be one customer in right now. Grillby's flames flared a little higher as he recognized the customer, then a smile spread across his face. He walked over to the table, how odd he wasn't sitting at the bar like usual, and raised a hand in greeting.

"… hello, Sans."

Sans looked up from his half eaten burger, his eye sockets crinkling ever so slightly at the corner in his version of a smile. "hey there yourself, how have you been?"

"… I've been fine, business has been steady and… busy." Grillby could kick himself, 'business is busy,' he must sound like an idiot.

"yeah? always knew you'd be more popular in a better location."

"… I expect the novelty to wear off soon, it's only been a week since the grand opening. Speaking of, I saw you there."

"of course, wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"… I really appreciated it."

"Hey boss, I'm going on break now."

Grillby turned and waved to his employee to show he heard and approved, leaving Sans and Grillby alone in the otherwise empty restaurant. Sans took the opportunity to take another bite of his burger. Grillby noticed the mostly empty fry basket next to his plate and smiled to himself, he was very happy to see Sans finally eating again. It had worried him when his friend's appetite seemed to fail that last month in the Underground, not that they had known it was the last month back then. And don't think he hadn't noticed Sans sneaking food to whomever of the canine unit was nearby.

"… oh, your drink is nearly empty. What were you having?"

"huh?" Sans looked down at his half empty glass, "uh, root beer."

Grillby nodded, then picked up the glass to go refill it. Since the restaurant was empty he decided to sit with Sans and catch up while Sans ate. They talked about the restaurant, how popular monster businesses were in general, whatever happened to the other regulars, how busy Sans was helping his brother with all his ambassadorial duties, how Frisk had become the unofficial monsterkind mascot… Sans had finished his meal and was nursing the last dredges of his soda when there was a cheery tune that ran through the air.

Sans pulled his phone from a pocket and glanced at the screen before putting it back away. "welp, hate to just eat and run like this but that was papyrus and i gotta get going. i'll be back though, i missed this place a lot."

"… I look forward to it." Grillby rose to his feet and was about to offer a handshake to Sans but took a step back in shock. The skeleton looked as if he had shoved a basketball into the usually empty space between his ribs and hips. Grillby didn't know what to say, just stood there staring as Sans pulled a few bills from his wallet and tried to hand them to him.

"you uh… you okay there grillby?"

"… you're expecting?" Grillby couldn't help the hurt tone to his voice.

"oh uh… yeah, heh. got a babybones on the way." Sans blushed and gently patted his round middle. "papyrus and alphys have taken over my undernet account and turned it into baby central since i never really kept up with it on my own." Sans pushed the money a little more insistently at Grillby, who took it automatically. "you can check it out if you want, would probably explain everything better than i could, and i gotta get going anyway. but i'll see you around." Sans waved as he walked out the door but didn't appear in the windows on either side, not that Grillby noticed.

He had wanted… he had hoped… but clearly that wasn't going to happen… probably never could have happened. Sans obviously had a partner now, had for a while even, Grillby probably never even stood a chance. His employee returning from break finally snapped Grillby out of his reverie, he quickly shoved the bills into his pocket and started clearing off the table.

The rest of the day was an unmitigated disaster. Grillby had to remake so many orders and comp so many meals that he finally just gave in and went home early, leaving his employees to continue without him. One of the perks of owning his own business.

In the safety of his own, cozy apartment he sagged against a handy wall as he rubbed at the tight spot in his temples. When that didn't ease the tension he instead threw himself on his bed and pulled out his phone. Grillby didn't have much of a social media presence, just what he needed to run his business really. A twitter account, a website full of pertinent information, and his personal Undernet account which was nothing more than another advertisement for his restaurant. But still, he had it and he could use it to find others. It wasn't hard to find Sans, only so many monsters would have 'bone2blazy' as their profile name.

The most recent post was an image that looked to be the baby itself, a grainy black and white image of a tiny, bulbous skeleton curled in on itself. It was titled "Gaster Baby" and had a number of weeks and a date after that, quite a few weeks actually. Grillby wondered if that meant Sans was in a relationship even before the barrier fell. He scrolled down a little, there were a few updates about the expected due date and when the next ultrasound appointment would be, then the next picture. This one seemed to be a family picture, in it Papyrus and a skeleton that seemed to have cracks in their face were standing on either side of Sans with their hands on his belly. The picture was captioned with " COOLSKELETON95, bone2blazy, DRWDGASTER" and the date.

"… so that must be Sans's partner." Grillby's thumb hovered over Dr. Gaster's name before he decided it would be better to just stop. He locked his phone and put it down on the bedside table.

Grillby sighed, he knew the name Dr. Gaster, everyone in the Underground did. He was the Royal Scientist before Dr. Alphys, he built the Core and changed the lives of everyone in the Underground by doing so. Grillby vaguely recalled the news of the scientist's return shortly after the barrier broke but had been so busy with moving to the surface he hadn't thought about it back then.

Grillby remembered Sans talking some evenings, when there were no other customers to joke around with. Sans would talk about things so far above Grillby's understanding it made his head spin. He also talked once or twice about how he used to work in the Lab in Hotland, that he used to work with the old Royal Scientist. That must be how they met.

Of course someone as smart and witty as Sans would fall in love with a brilliant scientist. Grillby could just picture it, two brilliant scientists working together to improve the lives of monsterkind and even try to break the barrier trapping them all down there. No wonder Grillby hadn't seen Sans at all since the barrier broke, he was finally reunited with his partner after a terrible lab accident that everyone thought had killed him. Grillby hadn't bothered trying to figure out how old the baby was in months earlier, but it was pretty obvious now about when that had happened. Sans and Dr. Gaster must have been very, very happy to be reunited.

Grillby rolled over onto his side, still in his work clothes, there just didn't seem to be a point in changing out of them right now.


	6. Back Off

Sans was feeling warm and hazy, the loud ruckus going on around him didn't even bother him anymore. He couldn't help the good natured grin on his face as he looked around at all the kids laughing and talking loudly, they were a good bunch. He should tell them so.

"Alright, that's enough. Out. All of you!"

There were groans and more laughing as the kids grouped up and started heading out the door. A few hollered quite loudly that they should probably call it a night anyway. Sans had most of a drink left so he decided to stay and finish it while his new friends cleared out.

"You too!" Someone put a heavy paw on his shoulder and pushed him off his bar stool. The world tilted and dipped dangerously, but the paw that had pushed him down had quite the grip on his shirt and kept him mostly upright even as he was being guided to the door. "What a terrible chaperone, you should be ashamed of yourself!"

Sans stumbled as he was shoved out the door, nearly running into one of the kids. The students laughed and reached out to help hold him up, they really were a good bunch. He's gonna tell them.

"hey… wait…" Sans turned and was about to tell the bouncer he'd never chaperoned anything in his life, but they were gone and the door closed. Sans shrugged, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

Oh, he was moving. Or rather the group of college students he'd stumbled into were moving and he was being pulled along. Sans really should call it a night too, he'd way over indulged. Like waaaaaaaaay over indulged, the last time he'd been this far gone was… was… that's right. Finals. It was a long standing tradition by this point, finish finals, go on a bar crawl. Angel above, how long ago was college now? He couldn't remember, his skull felt like it was stuffed with cotton instead of the magical field whose structure was surprisingly similar to the human neuron pathways if the half destroyed pictures that sometimes washed up in the dump were to be trusted.

Maybe he should consider going to a hotel rather than straight home, Papyrus would be so disappointed. He stumbled again, causing the kids around him to laugh. That's right, these were good kids and he was going to tell them so. Right now. Oh. They were singing his alma mater's alma mater, he couldn't just walk away from that. Or interrupt it. Sans started singing with them.

* * *

Scarlet pushed open the door to Grillby's new restaurant on the surface. It was their first time visiting and they were super excited to see what the new place was like, even if that excitement was a little dampened by missing the grand opening. Or was it just a grand re-opening since it was a new location? Either way, Scarlet stepped in and looked around the place as the door swung shut behind them. It actually reminded them a lot of the old place, booths on either side of the room rather than just one side and round tables strategically placed through the center, the bar at the back with the same broken jukebox under the same neon sign. It was different, but still it was also the same. There stood Grillby behind the bar, polishing a glass because he needed to feel busy. There was a customer sitting at one of the center tables, a rather familiar one that put a smile on Scarlet's beak.

"Hey Sans, long time no see."

"scarlet, how you been?"

Scarlet pulled out a chair and sat next to Sans. "I've been good, hope you don't mind if I join you."

"wouldn't have it any other way, i was feeling a bit bonely over here all by myself." Sans chuckled at his own pun, but Scarlet frowned.

"How have YOU been?" They asked, a little concerned.

"tired. i'm actually under doctor's orders to nap."

Scarlet did laugh at that one, "I bet Papyrus hates that!"

"nah, he's too cool to hate anything. got told by the doc that baby needed regular naps and he drafted up a nap schedule!"

Scarlet held a wing over their beak as they giggled helplessly at that, "What a sweetheart, you really do have the best brother in the whole Underground."

"better change that to the whole world," Sans winked at Scarlet.

"It's been months and it still feels weird to say stuff like that. But yeah, you were lucky enough to end up with the best brother in the whole world."

"… may I take your order?"

"Oh, hey Grillbz. Love the new digs." Scarlet motioned to the restaurant.

"… thank you."

They took a moment to glance over the menu, "Okay, I'll have a burg and a beer please."

"… right away."

"oh hey, could i get a…" Sans trailed off, Grillby had already disappeared into the kitchen. "eh, i'll ask when he gets back. so, what you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, same old same old. I gotta admit, even the same old boring routine has an extra sparkle to it, not that we've had much routine. Who knew humans were sticklers for so much paperwork?!"

"i hear that, you won't believe what they expect from papyrus at the embassy. i've basically become his unofficial second secretary. His secontary, if you will." Sans gave Scarlet a very exaggerated wink.

"… here you are." Grillby placed Scarlet's order in front of them. "Can I get you anything else?"

"I'm good, thanks." Scarlet paused as they turned to look at Sans as they motioned towards him, "But Sans here wanted to ask for something."

Sans sighed and sagged into his seat. "he already left, scarlet."

"Huh?" Scarlet looked up just in time to see Grillby's retreating back go through the swinging kitchen door. "Well how do you like that?"

"yeah, for someone made of fire he sure knows how to give someone the cold shoulder." Sans laughed at his own joke, only it didn't sound like much of a laugh.

Scarlet looked back at Sans, there were the beginning of tears gathering in the corners of his eye sockets. They couldn't very well have that. "So how's Frisk? As brother of the ambassador I'm sure you see a lot of monsterkind's one and only mascot."

Sans gave a watery laugh, "the kiddo's doing pretty good. you know, asgore asked them to be the ambassador and they refused, said they were too young. papyrus is great at it though, and frisk loves helping him out so that worked out for the best."

Scarlet nodded, "No one could ask for a better mascot. Frisk is real cute! And the way they stare down other humans in those videos all over Undernet, I don't know how they do it." Scarlet shuddered at the memory.

"takes a human to stare down a human, i guess. but mostly i think they're just bored in those videos, don't let their blank expression fool you."

Scarlet giggled again, glad that Sans's mood seemed to have lifted. They chatted over their food for a bit, mostly talking about the other regulars and what they were doing with their lives now.

"… and changed his name to Jimmy Hotpants!"

"no kidding, always knew the guy didn't like his name but what a change."

"… refill on your beer?"

"Huh?" Scarlet looked up to find Grillby had snuck up on them while they were chatting with Sans. "Nah, one was good for me. But I think Sans could use a refill." They motioned to Sans's empty glass.

"… oh, of course." Grillby picked up the glass and without another word went behind the bar to refill it. He shortly returned with a full glass and placed it in front of Sans while staying on the far side of the table, then he returned his attention to Scarlet. "… can I get you anything else?"

Scarlet looked to Sans, who shook his head, then turned their attention back to Grillby. "No thanks."

Grillby nodded, then went back to the bar and picked up another glass and a towel. Scarlet leaned in close to Sans and said softly, "What happened? Are you two fighting or something?"

Sans's shoulders sagged. "i don't know. nothing happened between now and the last time i was here, not that i know of, and we were fine then." Sans sighed heavily before picking up his drink and downing half of it.

"I just don't understand, I've never seen Grillby be so… so cold to ANYONE before." Scarlet didn't like making the pun when Sans was obviously hurting, but it was the only way they could think of to describe Grillby's rude behavior. Wait.

"i think i might understand." Sans sighed deeply and sagged in his seat. Tears were starting to prick at his eye sockets again.

"I'm sure it's nothing to do with you, Sans," Scarlet quickly reassured. They reached out to gently pat his shoulder, "Really."

"thanks, scarlet, but i should… i should get going." Sans pulled out his wallet and dropped a few bills on the table. "it was good seeing you again."

Scarlet sighed, maybe it was better for Sans to leave before Grillby could upset him any more. "Good seeing you again too." Once Sans had left Grillby came over to bus his dishes. Scarlet chose to glare at him.

"… is something the matter, Scarlet?"

"Yeah, the way you treated Sans just now. How could you be so rude to him?!"

"… that was not my intent!" Grillby looked completely horrified.

"Oh really?" Scarlet asked sarcastically. "Then what do you call completely ignoring him even when he's your only customer?"

"… that was…"

"Sans is going through a hard time right now, he doesn't need his closest friends being complete jerks to him."

"… I was just trying to back off!" Grillby huffed as he tried to regain his composure, Scarlet just stared at him in disbelief. Back off? Didn't they have crushes on each other? "… that is," Grillby continued in a calmer voice, "Sans doesn't need any complications… my feelings for him aren't…"

Scarlet put a wing over their face, trust these two dorks to completely miss the mark. They'd already lost a lot of gold when the pair hadn't gotten together before the barrier broke, it was time to start interfering. "You went right past backing off and hit utterly ignoring instead."

Grillby looked down at his feet like a chastised child.

"So the next time you see Sans you need to apologize to him."

Grillby nodded, not looking up from his feet.

"And you need to make sure you never ignore him like that again, I couldn't believe how rude you were."

Grillby just kept nodding.

Scarlet sighed and slouched into their chair. They murmured to themself, "Angel knows Sans doesn't need any more stress."

Grillby still wouldn't look up from his feet.

"Hey, hey… it's not so bad as all that. Just apologize to him and I'm sure you can go back to being friends." The way Sans looked at Grillby when he thought no one was looking, even now, even when Grillby seemed to be doing his best to ignore him, there was no way Sans wouldn't forgive him.


	7. Emotional Wreckage

Sans sauntered from the DT Extractor room into the room full of beds, which also happened to be where Alphys fed the Amalgamates. "hey alphys, how's it going?"

"Gah!" Alphys shrieked and just barely stopped herself from throwing the bowl of dog food in her hands into the air. "Sans! I w-wish you wouldn't d-do that!"

Sans just shrugged without bothering to remove his hands from where they were shoved deeply into his hoodie's pockets. Alphys hastily put down the bowl of dog food and moved out of Edogeny's way.

"I thought you were avoiding me, w-what brought you here today?"

"i wasn't avoiding you, i was avoiding… everything else." Sans glanced away from Alphys before looking back. "sorry about that, i shouldn't have just gone off the radar like that."

"W-well it's not like I was uh… I'm not the best at keeping in contact either."

Already done with their meal, Endogeny galloped the short distance over to Sans and started sniffing and whining. Sans summoned a bone and threw it at the far corner, his eye lights trailing after the goopy dog legion. "how're they all doing?"

"They're uh… stable. No further changes. I haven't… that is… I'm not sure how to even start..."

"i'll help you go through my dad's notes, i'm sure we can find something. but the real reason i came here is i kinda need a favor."

"What kind of favor?" Alphys asked carefully.

"alright, so a couple weeks ago i may have made a… uh… series of bad decisions. the kind of decisions that lead to memory loss and waking up in a stranger's bed." Sans started blushing and looked away as Alphys held her hands up to her face. "so i wanted to go over the surveillance footage from that night."

"Ohmygosh! Who'd you wake up next to?!"

"if i could remember i wouldn't need the surveillance footage."

"Right, right, memory loss, you already told me that. Okay, the tapes a-are all upstairs and… and… a couple weeks you said? I should still have them, then, if it had been over a month you'd be screwed. Heh."

Sans grimaced at the pun while Alphys giggled. They walked to the elevator and took it up.

"I-I'd never take you as uh… as the p-party hard type."

"usually i'm not, but i ran into some grad kids doing the finals bar crawl and was dumb enough to go along for the nostalgia of it. did you know old dr. igneous is still teaching?"

"R-really? I thought she retired shortly after I graduated!"

"i thought she retired after i graduated, the kids i was talking to said she was planning to retire after this last semester. i'm starting to think she's just got some long running joke that we're not on the inside of."

Alphys muffled a laugh with her hands again. "Oh wow, I bet she does!" The elevator came to a stop and they stepped out onto the level just below the Lab's ground floor. "I k-keep the old tapes down here and cycle through them after a month. E-everything should be labeled."

"thanks alphys."

* * *

Alphys grabbed another handful of popcorn to throw at Catty and Bratty as the three of them laughed together on the couch. No one was paying attention to the movie playing on the screen in front of them, but that didn't really matter at the moment She almost didn't hear the doorbell ring over all their laughter.

"J-just a second!" Alphys called as she hastily shook popcorn off her blouse.

"Did you like order pizza or something?" Bratty asked.

"Oh! I hope it has anchovies on it!" Catty squealed excitedly.

"I-I didn't, I'm not… not expecting anyone?"

"Oooooh!" Catty and Bratty said together in excitement.

"We like totally have to see who it is!" Catty exclaimed.

"Yeah like we so can't let you answer the door all alone!" Bratty agreed.

"Oh, you don't have to…" Alphys said reluctantly.

"Alphys, we totally want to!"

Catty and Bratty hopped up and practically herded Alphys to her front door. Alphys reached a shaky hand for the handle and carefully opened the door only to find Sans standing on her doorstep.

"OMG! It's like Sans!"

"It totally is, hi Sans!"

Catty and Bratty waved at Sans, who just stared blankly in their direction.

Alphys frowned, "Sans, are you okay?"

"i didn't know you had company over," Sans said as he tried to subtly wipe at his eyes. "i can just go somewhere else."

Alphys grabbed his wrist before he could shortcut away, "N-no, you can come in."

"Yeah you like totally look like you need some major cheering up," Catty said cheerfully.

"And we're just the perfect people to like cheer you up and stuff," Bratty added.

"I'll make some tea, you two get him settled on the couch," Alphys ordered before disappearing into the kitchen. Catty and Bratty led Sans over to the couch and went about clearing off the spilled popcorn before gently pushing him onto it, then they grabbed every pillow in the room and stuffed them around Sans.

Catty handed him some snacks, "You must be like so starved!"

Bratty was gathering up all the drinks in sight, then went to put them in the kitchen. She and Alphys came back with the tea and more snacks to find Catty perched on the arm of the couch while excitedly telling a story to Sans, who just nodded absently as he stared down at the snacks in what little his lap there was.

Alphys set down the tea before grabbing the remote and turning the TV off, then she settled down as close to Sans as she could get with all the pillows piled up around him. Bratty sat on the other arm of the couch.

"D-do you want to talk about it?" Alphys asked hesitantly.

"it's… so stupid," Sans said with a waver in his voice.

"It's totally not stupid, whatever it is," Bratty insisted.

"Yeah!" Catty agreed, "Alphys says you're like really smart! Like really, really smart."

"G-guys, maybe um… maybe you should just uh… let Sans… be… alone?" Alphys grinned nervously, she liked Catty and Bratty and was so glad to finally get their friendship going again. She really, really didn't want to kick them out.

"Oooooh!" Both girls said together.

"We like totally get it," Catty declared.

"Don't worry Alphys, we understand. We can like have a movie marathon later."

"S-sorry," Alphys said as the other two gathered up their things and left with a cheery wave. Once the door shut the house seemed to settle into a tense silence.

"sorry i ruined your hangout with your friends," Sans said. It would have sounded casual if not for the hitch in his voice.

"I-i-it's fine, you heard them, they understand. N-now!" Alphys squared her shoulders and turned her attention fully on Sans, "Talk to me."

"i went to grillby's for a late lunch and… and…" Sans's voice cracked as tears started pouring from his eye sockets. Alphys pulled him close and just let him cry. "he hates me!" Sans wailed before devolving back into incomprehensible sobbing.

After about an hour of alternating between Sans crying into her blouse and Alphys trying to get him to eat or drink something, Sans finally managed to sob out his story of what happened at Grillby's.

"Th-that's just awful!" Alphys yelled.

"yeah, it hic really is…"

"N-no Sans, what GRILLBY did is awful! Y-you don't deserve that kind of treatment!"

Sans sniffled and grabbed a few more tissues, one of the things Alphys was still kicking herself for not grabbing when he first showed up, and wiped at the tear streaks on his face.

"I mean it Sans, y-you don't deserve it."

"yeah… i know you mean it." Sans sniffled again.

Alphys had to resist face palming, perhaps a change of subject was in order. She glanced around the room until her eyes fell on the clock on the entertainment system. "Oh, I should be starting dinner soon. Do you uh… do you want to stay for dinner? Or m-maybe you'd rather go home?"

Sans winced, "i don't wanna go home right now."

"Th-that's okay, I didn't have any plans for tonight, honest. Catty and Bratty were just hanging out f-for the afternoon. Y-you can even spend the night… if you want."

"i…" Sans looked at Alphys hopefully as his voice softened, "can i really?"

"O-of course! I can understand not wanting to go home right now. B-but before I make dinner I should call your family and l-let them know where you are."

"yeah, don't want them worrying about me."

"But before I do that, here!" Alphys picked up one of the now cool, half drunk cups of tea. "Can't have your magic reserves getting too low."

"thanks, alphys." Sans accepted the cup and carefully sipped it.

"I'll just be in the kitchen, yell if… if you need anything."

Sans nodded as he continued to sip his tea. Alphys got up and moved into the kitchen, which only had a partial wall separating it from the living room. She liked that, even if she didn't do much cooking herself it made the kitchen not feel closed off from the rest of the house. She propped herself up against a wall and pulled her cell phone from her pocket. Now, which number to call? She had Papyrus's phone number, of course, she had actually gotten to know him pretty well as they turned Sans's Undernet account into something actually useful. But he was high energy, very high energy, and Alphys wasn't sure she had the willpower to talk over him right now. On the other hand she only had their house phone for an alternative and there was a 50/50 chance Papyrus would answer anyway. Not that the other option was much better, Alphys was sure Dr. Gaster would listen to her and take the situation calmly… probably. But he made her so nervous!

Alphys took a deep, calming breath. Well, she'd leave her fate up to fate she supposed. She scrolled through her contacts and selected the Gaster family's house phone. She then held a claw over the call button. And waited. Her claw started shaking.

"C'mon Alphys, you can do this, it's just a quick phone call. You don't even have to talk to either of them face to face. Sans needs you." That last comment seemed to do it, she quickly pressed the button, then looked away. Oh wait, she needed to actually listen to her phone. She nearly fumbled it as she quickly brought it up to her aural canal.

"HELLO? GASTER RESIDENCE."

"O-oh! H-h-hello, D-Dr. Gaster."

"HELLO. DR. ALPHYS, CORRECT?"

"Y-yes, that's me!"

"WONDERFUL, I WAS JUST CONSIDERING CALLING YOU. WOULD YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW WHERE SANS IS? HIS PHONE IS GOING STRAIGHT TO VOICE MAIL."

"O-oh, he must've t-turned it off. But! That's why I'm calling! Actually. About S-Sans. He's uh… he's here. A-and I think he wants to stay? The night?" Alphys could kick herself all over again, why does she have to sound so unsure when she's nervous?

"AH, THANK YOU FOR LETTING US KNOW. I'M SO GLAD HE'S SPENDING TIME WITH HIS FRIENDS AGAIN."

"W-well, that's n-not entirely not w-w-what's going on."

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND."

"i'm a tramp," Sans wailed from the living room. Alphys cringed, not again. "he thinks i'm a sluuuuu-hu-hu-huuuuuuut!" There was a muffled thump, like Sans had thrown himself into his couch pillow nest. Alphys looked over to confirm it.

"OH DEAR, IS SANS QUITE ALRIGHT? I HEARD THAT ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE PHONE."

"He's uh… he's having a rough day. I'll explain it later."

"and he's right, i am a slut!" Sans must've sat back up to be heard so clearly, Alphys tried to move further into the kitchen and put a hand up to try to shield the phone's mic.

"IF YOU THINK IT'S FOR THE BEST…"' Dr. Gaster didn't sound like he agreed it was for the best.

"I p-promise I'll text Papyrus later tonight and explain everything. Sans just… he needs a friend tonight."

"THANK YOU, DR. ALPHYS. I'M VERY GLAD SANS HAS SOMEONE LIKE YOU TO BE THERE FOR HIM."

"Oh! Uh… th-thanks. I mean! You're… welcome?"

"GOOD NIGHT, DR. ALPHYS."

Alphys sighed in relief as more wailing started up in the living room. "G-good night, Dr. Gaster."


	8. Grocery Shopping

Sans laughed as the slime he was chatting with told a joke. His drink, the first one at this bar, sat nearly forgotten and half full near his elbow as he told a joke of his own, "… and the physicist responded 'that's not a hydrogen wave function, that's my wife'!"

The slime laughed before taking a swig of her own drink. Sans took the time to look around the place, the other students were all laughing and chatting, adding to the background noise from the other patrons of this brightly lit, hip, new looking bar. Not the kind of place he'd usually haunt, but he was still having fun so it's not like that really mattered.

"Okay, so you know how humans still somehow haven't figured out this 'grand unified theory' they keep theorizing about?" Vina, or was her name Venus?, asked as she looked at Sans with a very serious expression on her face… area.

"of course," Sans said with a laugh. "they can't even figure out the basics of metaphysics, how do they think they can unify quantum and astrophysics without the middle ground?"

"I know, right?!" The slime laughed before seeming to remember what she was originally trying to get to. "But you know about the loop quantum gravity theory and chronons? How they think maybe time isn't continuous?"

Sans knew for a fact that time wasn't continuous, so did most monster in the STEM fields, but Sans thought he had more reason than most to really know that. He slammed a hand down on the bar they were sitting at. "hell yeah i know about chronons and time!" The bar quieted as the monsters nearest them stopped to stare at him in shock. Feeling warm and filled with liquid courage, Sans hopped off his bar stool and stood as tall as he could as he announced to all and sundry: "time is an illusion."

His announcement was met with silence, the grin on Sans's face faltered and stretched thin. Angel above what a thing to say to these poor kids, they don't need to know about just how broken time really is. They're young and full of life and hope and ideals, they didn't need that weight shoved on their shoulders. His mind scrambled to tack something lighter onto the statement. "… and so are pants."

"Then I'm glad you're not delusional!" A random monster in the crowd called. Everyone who heard the comeback burst into laughter, Sans grabbed his drink and raised it in the direction he thought the heckler had been in before downing the rest. The laughter and happy chatter swelled to fill the room again, putting Sans back into a good mood.

"Oh," the slime said as she glanced around, "looks like we're crawling to the next bar."

Sans chortled. It was the third time she had used that joke since they started chatting, a joke Sans himself had used when he was a student going on bar crawls, and it was still funny. The slime quickly threw back her own drink before they joined the rest of the students streaming out the door.

* * *

Gaster smiled to himself as he pushed a shopping cart up and down the grocery store's aisles, still a pleasant novelty with all the many choices easily available. Papyrus was enthusiastically running around them as they checked items off their list while Sans was content to stay near Gaster's elbow, one hand on the cart for support and the other under his very pronounced belly as he waddled along next to him. Gaster glanced down at his oldest son, glad to that despite how much of a drain the baby must be on him that the dark circles under his eyes were gone and his smile seemed genuinely content.

"WAS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?" Papyrus held up a colorful bag full of caramel candies.

"sure is, these are perfect. even if unwrapping each one is gonna be a pain."

"DON'T WORRY, BROTHER, THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS HAPPY TO BE OF ASSISTANCE."

"thanks, bro, you're the best."

Gaster marked the caramel off the list, "IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS AISLE WE NEED?" Gaster looked up when neither son responded. They were both still, staring at a fire elemental standing at the far end of the aisle. The other monster turned a blinding white and seemed to avert their gaze, if their glasses were anything to go by. Gaster felt a tug on his arm and looked down to see Sans also blushing and adorably trying to hide his face in Gaster's arm like he used to as a little babybones. Ah, so this must be the infamous Grillby.

Papyrus seemed to shake the shock off and leapt forward as Grillby started to turn away, "GRILLBY! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU SINCE THE BARRIER BROKE, HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?" Rather than wait for an answer Papyrus grabbed Grillby's elbow, the one that didn't have a shopping basket hanging from it, and started guiding him towards their cart. "I HEAR YOUR BUSINESS IS DOING WELL, IT SEEMS HUMANS HAVE THE SAME APPRECIATION FOR GREASE THAT MY BROTHER DOES." Papyrus for a moment before tacking on, "AND UNDYNE TOO, UNFORTUNATELY."

Gaster watched as Grillby did his very best not to make eye contact with Sans again, still blushing a brilliant white and over all looking very uncomfortable to be near them. Oh yes, he definitely had feelings for Sans. And judging by the way Sans seemed to be trying to hide behind Gaster he still had feelings for Grillby. Gaster could believe Papyrus's insistence that Grillby was the only monster in the whole Underground who could possibly be the father, no matter how much Sans protested.

"OH!" Papyrus said cheerfully when neither Grillby nor Sans started talking on their own. "WE HAVEN'T HAD PROPER INTRODUCTIONS YET! GRILLBY, THIS IS-"

"… Dr. Gaster, the Royal Scientist before Dr. Alphys." Grillby finished.

"I SEE MY REPUTATION PROCEEDS ME," Gaster replied cheerfully. "GRILLBY, WAS IT? I'VE HEARD QUITE A LOT ABOUT YOU." He held out a hand, which Grillby shook.

Grillby looked nervously towards where Sans was still trying to hide, then took a deep breath. "… I wanted to say… that is… my behavior was very… rude. I shouldn't have… um…" He ran a hand through the flames on his head and sighed. "… I want to apologize."

Gaster felt Sans press his face into his arm as Grillby stuttered out his apology, then peeked shyly at him. "thanks."

"… okay." Grillby looked lost for a moment as his shoulders sagged, then he seemed to gather himself up. "… excuse me, but I am pressed for time." He nodded to Gaster and Papyrus before slipping past them and out of the aisle.

Gaster watched the other go with amusement, poor boy was very shy. "HE SEEMED NICE," he commented once Grillby was fully out of sight, "WE SHOULD INVITE HIM OVER TO DINNER SOMETIME."

"dad, no. do not. please no," Sans begged quietly.

Gaster frowned, the way Sans had started to tremble was very concerning, this wasn't merely nerves or shyness. "ALRIGHT, IF YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO." Gaster suddenly remembered the incident a month or so ago when Sans had spent the night with Dr. Alphys, who later explained to them that he had spent three hours crying his orbits out over Grillby being very cold to him. The incident Grillby had just finally apologized for, since Gaster was fairly certain Sans hadn't seen him since. Perhaps it was better not to push at the moment. "SO IF YOU'RE MAKING A RECIPE THE QUEEN GAVE YOU THEN IT'S A PIE, CORRECT? WILL YOU BE MAKING YOUR OWN CRUST OR PURCHASE ONE OF THE PREMADE ONES?"

"my own, of course," Sans replied as they started walking again. He seemed to relax once he realized Gaster was going to let him drop the subject. Out loud at least. Gaster spent the rest of the grocery trip very distracted, going over everything he knew and all of the lines he had been reading between, the conclusion he was coming to was not a good one. Papyrus was convinced that no matter how much Sans insisted he had already talked to Grillby and confirmed he wasn't the father that there was no one else who it could be, and from how emotional Sans had been Gaster was ready to agree. The fact that Grillby was as unaware as Sans did not bode well for either of them. And thinking over the interaction they just had… was Grillby being shy or was he feeling shame? If it was shame was he remembering his last interaction with Sans, as his apology suggested, or was this something deeper?

Gaster frowned, no matter how he tried to fit the puzzle pieces together the picture wasn't pretty. Had Grillby perhaps taken advantage of Sans? Did Sans really not remember or was he trying to hide trauma? Surely if that were the case he wouldn't have gone to Grillby's restaurant at all, right? Gaster shook his head, he had to trust what Sans was telling him. He had to.

Gaster pulled Sans close in a sideways hug so he could kiss the top of his skull, "I'M VERY PROUD OF YOU, YOU KNOW THAT?"

"sure, dad," Sans replied with one of his easy grins. "but for clarity's sake, what has you so proud in this particular moment?"

"HOW BRAVE AND STRONG YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH THIS WHOLE SITUATION."

"what, the grocery store?"

"HE MEANS THE BABY, SANS," Papyrus said in a deadpan.

Sans sighed, "i figured. it's not like there's even anything i can do anyway. just go visit the doctor, eat, rest… and with you two taking care of me it's actually pretty easy." Sans grinned at his father and brother.

"OF COURSE WE'RE HERE FOR YOU!" Papyrus declared almost petulantly.

"WE WOULDN'T DREAM OF NOT BEING THERE TO SUPPORT YOU," Gaster added with another hug.

"thanks, don't know where i'd be without you guys."

Papyrus joined them in a family hug in the middle of the frozen aisle.

Gaster felt much better after that little chat. No matter what Sans had been through, no matter what the truth really was, they were a family again and were moving forward together. He couldn't help adding a little teasing with the lift in his mood. "ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT TO INVITE THAT YOUNG MAN OVER TO DINNER?"

"daaaaaaaad!" Sans blushed and hid his face, but was laughing. Gaster smiled to himself, of course it wasn't some kind of trauma if Sans could laugh and joke like that. Gaster had simply let his thoughts spiral too far.

Still, he wasn't happy about the way his son had been treated, apology or no. First chance he had to speak privately with Grillby he was going to let him know his exact feelings on the matter. In the mean time Gaster could content himself with spoiling his boys. "OH LOOK, THEY HAVE A MONSTER BRAND OF ICE CREAM. SHALL WE GET A CARTON OR THREE?" Sans and Papyrus laughed as they each picked out a flavor for themselves.


	9. New Arrival

Sans took a step from the biting cold of Snowdin and into the mild temperatures prevalent in New Home. Specifically he was walking out of an alleyway close to the Core, one he was familiar enough with to use for a shortcut but also relatively close to his destination. It was only a few blocks, just long enough for the snow still clinging to his sneakers to melt or scrape off, he pushed open an old, creaking, wooden door to a dimly lit bar. A mole was balanced carefully on the bar as they poured a drink, they looked up when he entered before returning their attention to the drink. Sans shuffled up to the bar and sat at the first open stool. Once the mole finished pouring the drink they slid it down to the customer at the end of the bar, then turned their attention to Sans.

"Welcome, what'll ya have?" They squeaked cheerfully.

Sans scratched at his chin as he looked over the dull bottles full of colorful, swirling liquids. "gimme a phoenix pinion." He dug around in his pocket for the G while the bartender poured the dink, then sent the tumbler his way. "thanks," Sans said as he put the G on the bar. Then he took his first sip. The drink burned as it suffused his magic matrix, then spread as a pleasant heat in his joints.

The bartender waddled over to collect Sans's payment, then looked him up and down. "Say, you look familiar, have we met before?"

"think so, i used to live around here a few years ago."

The bartender just nodded before moving onto the next customer. Sans spun around on his seat so he was leaning against the bar as he continued to slowly sip his drink. He had been in here before, and he was pretty sure the bartender's name was Mac. It could be Alex though, so Sans didn't want to risk using the wrong name. Instead he looked around the rest of the place.

It was familiar and comfortable, like slipping into an old sweater you dug up from the back of the closet. There were a few little changes, Sans thinks. He's pretty sure the tables have been re-arranged. The chairs around them, like in any establishment down here, were all mismatched and most were sporting scars and had clearly been repaired, so it was impossible to tell if any of them were different from when he had last been here. There were pictures all over the walls, posters and newspaper clippings taped up by their corners, a few photographs carefully pinned up, one was even in a frame. The dates on some of the posters were definitely new, especially that Mettaton one in the corner, but a lot of them were old, some even older than Sans himself. It was different, but at the same time it wasn't.

Before Sans knew it the tumbler was empty and he found himself chatting amiably with the monster next to him, a friendly dragon that seemed to have become a regular after Sans left New Home.

"You want another?" The bartender asked the next time they checked on him.

Sans looked down in surprise, somehow they had snuck up on him. "nah, i should get going. thanks, though." Sans smiled, the atmosphere was friendly and relaxing, exactly what he needed after all his stress. But it was also a little too close to a trip down memory lane, something he was desperately trying to avoid tonight. He was just turning to say his farewells to his newest acquaintance when the door opened and a crowd of college students, all of them chatting loudly with each other, came streaming in.

One of them went straight to the bar and ordered a round of beers for the group. They turned to Sans once the bartender had run to fill the order and looked him up and down. "Holy hell, you look like you've been through the wringer."

Sans looked down at his shirt stained with mechanical grease and his hands covered in grime and soot. He shrugged, "had a lab accident, decided to call it a night after that."

The student frowned, "Was anyone hurt?"

"nah, was working alone. and it barely exploded at all, mostly just a lot of smoke."

The student nodded in understanding and accepted their beer from the bartender. After they took their first swig a glint entered their eye and they turned to Sans to excitedly ask, "So what were you working on? And in a lab? For school or work?"

* * *

Grillby bustled from table to table, the lunch rush was winding down and only a few tables actually had customers. Most of them were regulars from the Underground and Grillby had sent the rest of his staff on their breaks so he could reminisce a little. The old canine unit had just come in and gathered around a table, just like old times.

"… how have you all been?" Grillby asked as he passed out bowls of kibble.

"We've been doing really good," Dogamy said with a tail wag.

(Still not used to actually living on the surface,) Dogaressa added. (I don't know if we ever will.)

"… I feel the same," Grillby said warmly.

"Grillbz, can I get another drink?"

Grillby nodded to Dizzy, then hurried off to get her drink and check on the other tables. By the time he got back to the canine table they were all gathered around Dogamy and were staring at his phone with their tails wagging.

"… is everything alright?" Grillby asked more out of confusion than anything else.

"Everything is just fine," Dogamy said happily as he looked up from his phone.

(Ryder is such a sweet name,) Dogaressa cooed as she leaned closer to the phone. (Do you think they'll have a photo up soon?)

Grillby would have asked what she meant by that, but Big Mouth had just walked in and immediately started chatting. Once he was situated Grillby had to head into the kitchen to get the next round of orders cooked. While in there, there were some noises from the dining room, excited chatter maybe? Grillby couldn't really tell from the back, but it didn't sound like anything or anyone broke so he thought it could wait until the orders were finished. Soon he was slipping back out into the dining room with food piled high on plates expertly balanced on his arms.

As he started handing orders out he noticed that everyone seemed to have their phones out now. The dogs were still huddled together on one side of their table, even if they were all looking at their own screens, and were talking in hushed whispers. Lesser kept glancing his way with a strange look on their face. Big Mouth had moved to sit next to Dizzy so he could look at her phone. Grillby watched Fischer move from the bar to go sit with with them, the three talked quietly and occasionally glanced at Grillby. When Grillby brought the ex-newspaper editors and librarian their orders they stopped talking and looked up at him strangely.

"… here are your meals, can I get you anything else?"

"This is… fine? Right?" The librarian looked to the others, who simply nodded. "This is fine, thank you."

Grillby nodded and turned to go check on the other tables. The moment his back was turned the whispers started up again, too quiet for him to make out the words over the rest of his customers eating, drinking, and whispering. It didn't bother Grillby so much, really, it was normal for customers to want to keep their conversations to themselves. It was the way whatever table he approached would stop talking immediately and look up at him strangely whenever he approached. No one was trying to hide their phones, he could probably see what they were talking about if he wanted to invade their personal space and all around be very obvious. But that would be very rude, and he was never one to be rude. Not after it had lost him a good friend and possible...

To calm his nerves Grillby slipped behind the bar and started polishing glasses. Everyone seemed content with their meals at the moment and would surely wave him down if they needed anything, these were his regulars after all. As he polished he watched the scattered groups keep glancing up at him with strange looks on their faces as they continued to talk quietly among themselves.

"Alright, I'm back from my break."

It was almost a profound relief to Grillby when his employee came out from the back. He motioned to the scattered tables and let them do the rounds. His other employee soon came out as well, meaning Grillby was free to finally get his own lunch. He was torn between just slipping into the kitchen and making his own meal and marching up to the nearest table to politely ask what had everyone acting so strangely. It was watching his employee lean over to look at Fischer's phone, then up at Grillby, then back down at the phone that finally decided it for him. Grillby put down the glass he was polishing and pulled out his own phone. Perhaps Mettaton was pulling some sort of stunt again? No, that wouldn't have everyone be so hushed.

The first thing he noticed was several Undernet status update notices. All from Sans. Grillby really should unfollow him, this was getting ridiculous. It was like stalking an ex, only it wasn't even that since they had never actually been a couple. And Sans hadn't been back since the incident with Scarlet so he clearly wanted nothing to do with Grillby any more, not even after Grillby had finally managed to apologize. Still, if this was why everyone was so quiet it would be worth looking at.

Grillby went to Sans's profile and noticed the most recent update: "I JUST CAN'T GET OVER HOW CUTE RYDER IS!" The same name Dogaressa had mentioned earlier, did that mean the baby had been born? As Grillby was about to start scrolling down a new update popped up. This one was a picture of Papyrus holding something in his arms. Grillby tapped the picture to get a better look. It was clearly a baby swaddled so tightly only their round head was visible. Their round head that appeared to be on fire.

Grillby's now ruddy flames barely flickered over his quickly cooling core, his vision going black around the edges. The world tilted dangerously before dropping him on his side on the floor behind his bar. He barely had the time to register distant shouts before the black closed in on him, leaving him out cold.


	10. The Finale

Sans stood in his lab and looked around, he had finally finished cleaning up after the machine broke and the lab was a level of clean even Papyrus would call barely adequate. He _could_ pull the sheet from the machine and start repairs… again. It was a much smaller break this time, not even a proper explosion, so it should be easy enough even for someone as inept with machinery as Sans to fix. Instead he sighed and leaned against the counter. There didn't seem to be a point, not really. It'd probably just break again the moment he turned it on. Maybe spit out more bad news he could do nothing about. Plus futzing around with experimental technology that's already proven to be prone to catastrophic failure probably wasn't a good idea for a monster in his condition.

Sans gently laid a hand against his middle. That was a whole other can of worms for him to deal with, he still didn't know where this kid had come from. Papyrus hadn't seen Sans come home, just found him miserable in his room the next day. Alphys's cameras hadn't seen anything, the moment he parted ways with the students he had started shortcutting erratically. None of the bartenders knew anything either, he hadn't gone back to any of them after the students had called it a night. No matter who he asked, no matter who he talked to… everything was a dead end.

Sans looked back up at the machine with hollow eye sockets. Not that any of that mattered, time was a jumbled plate of spaghetti and was going to end. Soon. If the readings he had gotten were anything to go by. The kid was never going to be born, so what did it matter who the father was? Time was already a tangled mess, so why bother trying to fix a machine he'd already broken twice? They were stuck in a time loop and endlessly repeating themselves, so why did anything at all even matter? Sans just felt tired, so tired. He trudged over to the door and flipped off the light switch as he left his lab.

* * *

Grillby stood nervously on the doorstep to Sans's house. He had a hand up to knock on the door and just stood there. It had been a few days since the latest incident, as he thought of it, when he had fainted at work. He had been following Sans's Undernet account almost religiously ever since and knew two things: firstly that the baby was definitely on fire, and secondly that Sans and little Ryder had been sent home the previous day. Grillby quickly rearranged the gift in his arm before finally just screwing up his courage and knocking on the door.

Dr. Gaster opened it, the smile on his face quickly faded. "GOOD AFTERNOON, GRILLBY."

"… good afternoon." Grillby swallowed nervously, he knew. The doctor clearly had figured it out and was very upset. How could he not? Ryder was on fire, it was very obvious the child wasn't his.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME IN?" Dr. Gaster stepped back from the door and motioned for Grillby to enter. Despite all his instincts screaming that this was a trap, he went in. Dr. Gaster led him over to an armchair and waited for Grillby to sit before taking a seat himself. "SO WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE TODAY?"

"…" Grillby held up the stuffed dog with a ribbon tied around its neck in his arm. Before he could say anything he was interrupted by pounding feet thundering down the stairs.

"I THOUGHT I HEARD SOMEONE AT THE DOOR, DO WE HAVE A VISITOR?"

Grillby turned to see Papyrus bound into the room. He paused just inside the threshold and looked back and forth between the other two before he turned to Dr. Gaster with his hands planted firmly on his hips and a scowl on his face. "DAD! BE NICE TO GRILLBY!"

Dad?! Grillby thought he might faint all over again. Dr. Gaster was Papyrus's father? That meant he was Sans's father too, right? Not his partner?

Papyrus had turned towards Grillby with a wide grin and clasped his hands together in delight. "YOU MUST BE HERE TO SEE SANS, RIGHT? AND A GIFT TOO!"

"… it's a fireproofed stuffed dog," Grillby said absently.

"HOW SWEET! WELL WHY DON'T YOU TAKE IT UP TO SANS? I'M SURE HE'LL LOVE IT. AND THEN YOU TWO CAN CATCH UP, WINK WINK." Papyrus practically picked up the nearly unresponsive Grillby and dragged him up the stairs and down the hallway. He stopped before a door, pushed Grillby back very gently, then slowly opened the door and peeked in. "SANS? YOU HAVE A VISITOR."

There was a tired sigh from the room. "send them on in."

Papyrus held the door open and motioned for Grillby to go in, which he did. Once through the door, Papyrus quickly shut it, though Grillby had no illusions the other would actually leave. Grillby chose to ignore that and focus on who was in the room with him. Sans was sitting in a rocking chair off to the side, a small, flaming bundle in his arms.

"oh, hi grillby. didn't expect to see you."

Grillby thought that was very… odd. Or maybe not, maybe Grillby was the one confused. Angel above knew he seemed to have already been confused for quite a while. He stepped closer and held up the toy dog. "… I brought something for the little one."

"thanks, that's really sweet of you." Sans looked down and gently bounced the little bundle. "hey ryder, wanna meet my friend grillby? he's a really cool guy."

Grillby leaned down to get a better look at the baby, they were so tiny. And still on fire, which Grillby desperately wanted to ask about but wasn't sure how to start. Instead he held a hand up to gently run the back of a finger over Ryder's chubby cheekbones. Ryder's hand, the only thing besides their head that wasn't swaddled tightly, grabbed Grillby's finger and clung tightly. Their bottom end started moving, Grillby guessed they were kicking their feet.

"heh, they seem to really like ya."

"… they're adorable," Grillby said with awe, his soul doing flips in his core.

"thanks, glad to know i'm not the only one who thinks that. well, me and papyrus and dad, anyway."

That reminded Grillby of why exactly he was here. He realized he was still holding the gift and set it down off to the side before clearing his throat and trying to figure out how to start. "… Sans I uh… noticed that you… haven't… mentioned a partner?"

Sans blushed and looked away, he leaned back in the rocking chair, causing Ryder to pull on Grillby's arm to keep their grip on his finger. "geez, the one time i rely on gossip to spread something around for me and no one wants to talk about that juicy bit of info. and here i thought you knew."

"… knew what?"

"i don't got a partner, never had one."

Grillby looked down at the baby in Sans's arms. "… what?"

Sans sighed and ran a hand over his skull before tucking it back under Ryder, who was now gripping Grillby's finger with both tiny little hands. "i have no idea who ryder's father is."

"… you don't?" Grillby was utterly floored, he had never heard of that happening to a monster before. He'd seen a few human soap operas that had that be one of the many confusing plot points being thrown around, but that was just not something that happened to monsters, right? "… I don't understand."

"i…" another sigh from Sans, "i got drunk. really, really drunk. like can't-remember-what-i-did drunk. or i guess i should say 'who' i did."

"… oh." Grillby felt his knees trembling. "When?"

"when your bar was closed for a funeral, an aunt i think? i mean, it was a while ago obviously."

Grillby's legs crumpled under him and he sat down heavily on the floor. Sans yelped but didn't get further than leaning forward in the rocking chair before Grillby started speaking. "… Aunt Barbie, the whole family was worried my parent would fall down too, they were really close with their sister. I… was worried too. Didn't take it well and got drunk myself. So drunk that when I woke up the next day I thought I had dreamt I ran into you and we went back to my place and…" Grillby felt his flames heat up until his core was a blinding white. "… you weren't there when I woke up, though I never was sure how exactly I even got home."

"oh my god." Sans leaned back in shock. There was a muffled squeal from the closed nursery door, which they both chose to ignore.

"… everything from that night is really hazy, I thought it was a dream or a fantasy or… something!"

Sans started laughing, which startled Ryder into letting go of Grillby's finger. They started fussing, but Sans had a hard time calming down enough to soothe them. "i was too embarrassed to ask! i mean, i did try in a roundabout kind of way but obviously it wasn't enough. and everyone kept telling me to talk to you and i insisted i already had."

Grillby laughed too, more subdued than Sans's laugh had been. "… god, this whole situation could have been resolved months ago if we had just talked to each other."

There was another muffled squeal from the door, followed by feet distantly pounding down the stairs.

Sans did finally calm down and started cooing at Ryder while he rocked the baby. "i'm sorry, grillby," Sans murmured sadly once Ryder quieted down. "you could've been there for this whole ride, or at least known about it, you know? i should've just sucked it up and explained the whole embarrassing situation to you."

"… you're not the only one to blame, if I hadn't just assumed… there's a lot of things I shouldn't have just assumed." Grillby cringed as he remembered the months he spent convinced Dr. Gaster was Sans's partner. Well, he could just keep that little fact to himself, no one else needed to know.

"god, this is such a relief. embarrassing as all get out, but also a huge relief." He held Ryder closer and gently nuzzled their head. "you hear that ryder? we found your daddy."

Ryder started fussing again, presumably upset at being woken up so soon after falling asleep.

"oh hey," Sans said suddenly, looking down at where Grillby was still sitting on the floor, "you wanna hold them?"

A wide grin spread across Grillby's face. "… can I?"

"yeah, hold on a sec, just…" Sans somehow slipped out of the rocking chair without using his hands or needing any kind of assistance. With Ryder cradled in one arm, he directed Grillby to sit in the chair and how to support the baby. "they were just born, their bones are still soft. it takes a while for them to ossify."

Grillby nodded nervously, "… right."

"okay, so hold yourself still, don't need the chair rocking just yet. and keep your arms like that… good." Sans carefully transferred Ryder to Grillby's arms.

Grillby couldn't help the wave of anxiety that washed over him as the tiny little bundle of still soft bones was settled into his arms. But then Ryder cooed and snuggled closer to him, burying their face into the thick sweater he had put on that morning instead of his work uniform.

"look at that, they like you already."

Grillby felt his soul doing flips and fluttering around his core again, Ryder really did seem to like him. On impulse he held them closer while he leaned down and gently kissed their skull. "… I love you, Ryder."

* * *

AN: And that's it folks! At least for now, thanks to some comments on chapter 8 there is now going to be an alternate ending that veers off from this. That's right, this story is getting an AU! I was very inspired and it will be going up next week (instead of the fluffy one shot I was going to do between long fics). Look forward to it!


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